Windows Applications and Accessories

A. Adding a shortcut to your Start menu or desktop
B. Toggling through applications
C. Opening and saving a document

A. Adding a shortcut to your Start menu or desktop

1. Left-click on the Start button.
2. Select the application that you want to create a shortcut for, and right-click on it. Then left-click on Create Shortcut. In the example below, a shortcut is being created for the calculator.
   
3. XP will place the shortcut below the application. Click on the shortcut you just created, drag it, and drop it onto the desktop. Now you can open the application from your desktop without having to open the Start and Program menus.
   
4. If you don't want to have a lot of icons on your desktop, but also don't want to have to open multiple menus to open applications, move the shortcut to your Start menu. To do this, click on the shortcut icon on your desktop, drag it over the Start button, and let go of the icon.
5. The icon will then show up at the top of your Start menu. Then, go back to the shortcut on your desktop, and delete it by right-clicking on the shortcut and selecting Delete.
   

B. Toggling through applications

1. This trick will allow you to move around many different applications quickly. All of your open applications will show up in your taskbar at the bottom of the screen (you can move the taskbar around your screen, but, typically, it is found at the bottom).
   
2. Clicking on any open application with your mouse will restore the application screen to full size to display what you were working on.
3. Another way to toggle through open applications is to hold down the Alt and the Tab keys at the same time. This will bring up a box that displays all your open applications. Keep holding down the Alt key, and press the Tab key. A dark blue square will surround each application as you select it. When the application you want to go to has a blue square around it, release both keys, and the selected application will restore to full size on your screen.
4. You can use this trick to work in many applications, and it is great for cutting and pasting.

C. Opening and saving a document
Many programs open in different ways. Below is the way a typical program will open and save.

1. Click on the Start menu and select All programs (if the application is a shortcut on your desktop, you can double-click from your desktop).
2. Click on the application that you would like to open.
3. Once you have created or opened a new document, you can save it by clicking on File and then Save.
4. The difference between Save and Save As is that once you have saved a document, clicking Save As allows you to save a new version of a document, while retaining the original document. For example, if you have a quiz that you give to your students every week, you can open last week's quiz, click Save As, name it for this week and make the changes to it, while retaining the original document. Creating a new document with the same formatting as the old one saves you setup time.